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The University of Massachusetts Amherst reports one of its researchers has landed more than $975,000 from the National Institutes of Health to develop antibiotics to be used against food-borne illnesses.
UMass polymer scientist Gregory Tew will lead the research team. The school will share the grant with PolyMedix Inc., a Pennsylvania-based startup founded by Tew. PolyMedix has developed an antimicrobial compound that imitates a naturally occurring protein called defensin, which attacks bacteria, fungi and many viruses.
The grant includes a recommendation for four more years of funding, and a total of $6.6 million in funding, with $3.1 million going to UMass.
The UMass research team, which includes organic chemists, microbiologists, biophysicists and immunologists, will build on earlier work by Tew which developed synthetic molecules known as antimicrobial oligomers (AMO).
Last week, UMass and PolyMedix split a Navy grant to study the best antimicrobial compounds for military uses. The Office of Naval Research awarded UMass and Pennsylvania-based PolyMedix (OTC: PYMX) the $99,000 Phase 1 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract to discover lead antimicrobial compounds based on PolyMedix’s novel small molecule defensin-mimetics for activity against bacterial pathogens, with a particular focus on Acinetobacter. Acinetobacter is a Gram-negative bacteria which can cause pneumonia, and is highly resistant to currently available antibiotic drugs.
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